1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to telecommunications systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically identifying and mapping participants in a conference call.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conference calling is an important and increasingly useful business tool, particularly with the advent of new multimedia conferencing applications that allow for advanced collaboration, whiteboarding, and video conferencing. Often, multiple parties in multiple locations engage in such calls. That is, a group gathers in a conference room at one location while another group gathers in a conference room at another location.
Often it is desirable to explicitly identify all parties to the conference. While a party designated as a moderator or host could individually poll all participants to verbally identify themselves, this can take an extended period and occupy valuable working time. As such, there is a need for an improved method for identifying participants in a conference.
Further, it is often the case that participants in a conference are not well-acquainted with other participants. In such instances, particularly when the conference is relatively large, having a pile of business cards or even a list of participants is not necessarily enough for a participant to readily identify a given speaker. As such, there is a need for an improved method for identifying particular speakers in a conference.